PWG-CIM Alignment 2005

Rick Landau (Dell)2005/09/29

PWG Confidential 2

Project to Align CIM Printing Model with PWG Model

• Work register item between Printer Working Group and DMTF

– Goal: Refresh CIM model as it pertains to printers

– Initiated May 2005; expect approved results January 2006

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History

• CIM printing-related classes first appeared in CIM schema v2.2

– Modified as recently as schema v2.8

– All in Device_Printing.mof

– Classes: CIM_Printer, PrintService, PrintQueue, PrintJob, and other related

• PWG specs

– SNMP Printer MIB (printer device): 1995 - 2004

– Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) (print service, job): 1999 - 2005

– Semantic Model (print service, job): 2002 -2004

– Others in process

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Status

• We don't know where the existing CIM_Printer model came from

– Seems to be a combination of PWG PrintService and Printer

• PWG has highly evolved models for

– Printer (as a hardware device)

– Print Service

– Print Job

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Work to Date

• Several members of PWG reviewed the classes in Device_Printing.mof (and XML and HTML)

• Noted some changes that could be made

– Categorized

– Proposed solutions for most

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Concerns

• PWG concerned about schedule

– To complete significant work by January, we suggest limiting the scope of near-term work to CIM_Printer class

• PWG concerned about completeness and correctness

– Management applications migrating to the CIM model

– If a property can't be seen -- and seen correctly -- through the CIM model, then it can't be seen at all

– Many properties of printers (and related classes) are currently not represented in CIM

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Categories of Problems Uncovered

• Structure of Classes

• Completeness

• Vague properties

• Errors in mappings and correspondences

• Document read-write attributes and mutability

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Structural Problems

• A number of properties in CIM_Printer seem appropriate to PrintService but not Printer

• "Move from A to B" = deprecate in A, add in B

• Move at least MaxCopies, DefaultCopies, MaxNumberUp, DefaultNumberUp, MaxSizeSupported

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Vague Properties

• CurrentPaperType, e.g., impossible to determine

• Deprecate most "CurrentXxxx" properties

– Applications should use the corresponding DefaultXxxx properties instead

– CurrentPaperType, MimeType, Language, Capabilities

• CurrentCharSet and CurrentNaturalLanguage should remain, but they need clear descriptions of their semantics

• Fix HorizontalResolution and VerticalResolution properties with new definitions

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Errors in Mapping Strings and Model Correspondences

• Printer.PrinterStatus, Printer.DetectedErrorState, PaperTypesAvailable, DefaultPaperType, MimeTypesSupported

• Minor, not normative

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Major Concern: Incompleteness

• CIM_Printer has 32 properties; SNMP Printer MIB has at least 3x that many plausible properties

– Do not carry forward all properties just because they're there

• Several major areas are not represented at all in CIM

– Console, covers, input/output trays, markers, supplies, colorants, media paths, channels, interpreters, and most counters

• Two proposed strategies:

– Add a Class, CIM_PrintDevice, to represent the hardware device; deprecate the current CIM_Printer class; move some properties to CIM_PrintService

– Perform major surgery on CIM_Printer: deprecate dozen+ properties, add many new properties

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Deliverables

• Change Requests for CIM Schema

• Brief plan of work to be done, interim status reports

• PWG knows approximately what a CR contains (borrowed some from SMWG)

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Process Going Forward (SWAG)

• PWG needs to be educated about CIM

• Core needs to be educated about printing

• Agree on scope of changes to be attacked in this phase

• Agree on content of changes

• Draft CRs

– Work on editorial items first (e.g., descriptions, mapping strings, model correspondences)?

• Review, revise, approve

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Future Directions

• Refresh CIM_Printer (current activity)

• Refresh other related printing classes (short term)

• Other printing-related data that should be represented in CIM, e.g., imaging counters (long term)

– Possible to use PWG extensions to CIM schema to carry many new properties

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Questions?